A fire at a mushroom composting facility on Lougheed Highway Tuesday was actually located in a hay stack outside the building.

Firefighters were called to what was initially thought to be a structure fire at a large building off Lougheed Highway near the Skawahlook First Nation Tuesday afternoon (June 25). However, Agassiz Fire chief Gerald Basten said no structures are actually threatened by the fire, which occurred in a large haystack outside the building.

“Initial observations are leading to spontaneous combustion within the haystack, causing the fire,” Basten said in an email.

The building, a commercial mushroom composting facility, is located outside the District of Kent in the Fraser Valley Regional District, so Agassiz fire crews did not attend, although Basten was at the scene.

Crews on site are working to extinguish the fire with heavy equipment and an on-site fire hose system. Because of the size of the hay stack and the density of the hay, it will likely smolder for some time.